The Natural Fiber Guide: Build a Beautiful and Functional Wardrobe

We love being on the journey together pioneering a return to natural fibers with functional and beautiful design. We believe the future of fashion is healthy, natural fibers and thoughtful design for all seasons of life and we've made it our mission to design small batch collections to help women as they care for their families and homes.

The Next Era of Natural Fibers: What We Expect To See

Natural fibers will become the new baseline. As demand for cotton, linen, wool, and other natural materials grows, more large brands will begin to adopt them at scale. In the coming years, we will likely see significantly more “organic cotton” and “natural fiber” labels across every price point in the market.

This will be a positive shift, but it will also change how clothing should be evaluated. At the same time, certifications like GOTS speak to fiber sourcing and processing standards; they do not define fabric quality, garment construction, fit development, comfort, longevity or craftsmanship. And those elements are what determine how a garment actually feels, wears, and lives in a wardrobe over time.

As organic becomes more widely available, the differentiation in clothing will continue to move from what something is made of to how thoughtfully it is made and designed to function in real life.

Fiber content alone does not determine quality. A label cannot tell the full story of a garment. Two dresses may both be made from organic cotton while performing completely differently over time. Fabric weight, knit density, stitching quality, recovery, shrinkage control, and finishing processes all influence how a piece ages after repeated wear and washing.

Words such as “organic,” “natural,” and “sustainable” may begin to appear more frequently across a wider range of products and price points. As these terms become more common, understanding the full picture becomes increasingly important.

Natural fibers deserve thoughtful construction. We believe garments should not only be made from better materials, but also designed to move comfortably through everyday life including homemaking and motherhood, nursing, rest, and repeated wear across seasons.

A garment worn hundreds of times often has greater long-term value than one purchased impulsively and discarded quickly, regardless of marketing claims. We design with repeat wear in mind: timeless silhouettes, versatile layering, comfortable fit, and fabrics chosen for softness and durability over time.

In the future, as fast fashion picks up organic cotton, this will be a defining factor. 

A Conversation on Cotton

Chemicals can be found in natural fibers not just synthetics. The labels don't tell the full story of the ingredient list of what is in the natural fiber and this makes things a bit complicated.

Not all cotton is created equal. There is a vast difference between conventional cotton (often loaded with prints, dyes and finishes), which make up 99% of the world's cotton - and organic cotton and healthy processes, which is under 1% of the world's cotton. Conventional cotton uses 16% of the world's insecticides and 7% of the world's pesticides.

Most only look at the pesticides in conventional farming. But conventional cotton goes beyond farming. From harvesting to dyeing, weaving, and printing, the process involves heavy chemical exposure so intense that factory workers often wear hazmat suits. Yet these same fabrics end up against our skin, our largest organ.

PVC & Plastisol: Often used in screen printing; contains phthalates.

Just like with food some pesticides and chemicals can wash off - and some agricultural pesticide residues and chemicals on conventional cotton may decrease during textile processing and repeated washing. However, some chemicals are intentionally engineered to stay attached to the fabric. Many dyes, prints, stain resistance, wrinkle resistance, antimicrobial treatments, some flame retardants, PFAS waterproofing, and performance treatments used in conventional clothing are intentionally designed to bond to the fabric and remain durable through laundering. 

We will often see oversimplified claims on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to cotton:

“All conventional cotton is equally toxic”.  Not all conventional cotton garments contain high-risk chemicals. Washing does reduce some removable residues. Exposure levels vary enormously by dyeing, printing, finishes, regulations, and manufacturing quality. A plain lightly dyed conventional cotton garment may have relatively low chemical burden.

“Washing removes the chemicals, so conventional cotton is basically harmless.” This oversimplifies the other direction. Why it’s incomplete: Studies only show reduction of some removable residues. Many textile chemicals are intentionally designed to persist. We do not have comprehensive evidence that laundering removes most textile chemistry. Sweat, friction, and wear can release some residual chemicals over time.

This area of women and children's health is under-studied.

The long-term effects of everyday textile chemical exposure are still under-studied, particularly for vulnerable populations like pregnant women, infants, and children.

Modern clothing can contain a complex mixture of dyes, finishes, coatings, softeners, plasticizers, and processing chemicals, yet long-term research on everyday consumer exposure through textiles remains limited. While studies show that washing can reduce some removable residues, research also demonstrates that certain chemicals, metals, dyes, and durable finishes can persist in fabrics and may migrate through sweat, friction, heat, and wear over time. Sweat, friction, and wear can release small amounts of metals and textile chemicals from some fabrics, and this is well demonstrated in laboratory studies. 

Ways to Mitigate Exposure to Chemicals in Clothing

Low-toxin options to prioritize are organic cotton, linen, untreated wool, hemp, minimally dyed conventional cotton, GOTS-certified textiles, and PFAS-free finishes.

In the modern clothing industry, brighter, more saturated, “perfect” fabrics often come at a cost with heavier dye loads, synthetic finishes, optical brighteners, and chemical processing designed for mass production. Chemicals in conventional fast fashion cotton prints are specifically engineered to bond to the fibers so they survive hundreds of washes without fading.

Simply choosing more natural, more muted colors and less heavy printing can mitigate toxins. Bright, highly saturated conventional textiles often require more intensive dye chemistry and processing, while undyed and muted shades may involve fewer chemical inputs. When dealing with conventional cotton, synthetics and semi-synthetics the colors most commonly associated with higher-risk dye chemistry are black (often considered one of the “heaviest” dyed colors; black activewear and underwear are frequently flagged in consumer testing because deep blacks require intense saturation and colorfastness treatments), neon/fluorescent colors, very bright synthetic reds (historically some red dyes were associated with problematic azo compounds and heavy metals like cadmium, though regulations vary widely by country and supplier), and deep blue and dark jewel tones (dark saturated colors generally require more dye, more fixatives, more wash cycles, more finishing chemistry).

This is one reason many people choose organic or low-tox textile standards. Certifications like Global Organic Textile Standard and OEKO-TEX are valuable partly because they restrict formaldehyde levels, azo dyes, heavy metals, toxic auxiliaries, PFAS in many cases and problematic finishing chemicals. So the benefit is often broader than simply “organic farming.”

Finding affordable organic cotton brands you trust is helpful. Without certification, "organic cotton" can become a greenwashing term. But GOTS certification means every supplier in the chain - farm to warehouse - must be individually certified and pay annual licensing fees, which is why smaller brands often source GOTS fabric but can't market the finished product as GOTS.

Certifications matter but they are one part of the story. Independent certifications can provide important accountability. At the same time, certifications do not automatically guarantee timeless design, durability, comfort, or craftsmanship.

Let’s explore our favorite and most wearable natural fibers.

LINEN (Mechanically Processed): Mechanically processed linen is made from flax fibers separated through natural and mechanical means typically through dew retting or water retting, then mechanically breaking, scutching, and hackling the fibers. This avoids the chemical retting and softening methods used in much of today’s “commercial” or “softened” linen. 

• Linen is very breathable so it's perfect for year-round wear especially when layered with soft organic cotton, and in cooler months, untreated wool sweaters.
• When you roll or bunch the fabric in your hand, good linen will wrinkle but it will also bounce back slightly.
• Because of the moisture wicking properties, pure linen should feel slightly cool to the touch.

ORGANIC COTTON: Organic cotton is lovely for year-round wear and it can be affordable, comfortable and easy to care for. Organic cotton is the perfect material for everyday dresses and soft layering pieces with your linen and wool.

• Organic cotton is grown without the heavy use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides commonly used in conventional cotton farming, helping support healthier soil and lower environmental impact.
• Organic cotton colors are often more natural and muted, and the printing processes on organic cotton are safe and healthy unlike fast fashion conventional cotton. Many organic cotton textiles follow stricter standards for dyes, finishes, and processing chemicals through certifications like Global Organic Textile Standard.
• Organic cotton is durable, practical, and wearable year-round but with a more thoughtful approach to farming and manufacturing. 

UNTREATED WOOL: Wool needs to be untreated to be considered a healthy natural fiber option. Superwashing is a chemical treatment used to make wool machine-washable. It removes or coats the natural scales on the fiber with chlorine (to burn off scales), and polymer resins (like Hercosett) to coat the fiber. Untreated wool avoids harmful chemicals and keeps its natural fiber structure - the lanolin, scales, and all. It’s fully biodegradable, naturally odor-resistant, flame-resistant, and breathable. Requires gentle hand washing, but is the healthiest option.

• Since wool can come from different animals (sheep, alpaca, goats), there’s a lot of texture variety.
• Alpaca is extra warm and soft and has the lowest environmental impact in the wool family. Look for RWS certified. Alpaca wool is softer than sheep’s wool and often compared to cashmere in feel.
• Quality wool will be 100% wool or a blend of wool and other natural fibers like cashmere or silk so always check the label for these details.

HEMP: Hemp is becoming a more popular natural fiber and is one of the oldest textile fibers in the world, traditionally valued for its durability and breathability. It's a great option for workout-wear if you're wanting to move away from synthetics or even treated wool. 

• Best when mechanically (dew) retted. Some hemp is chemically processed.
• Hemp fabric is naturally moisture-wicking, helping the body stay cooler and drier in warm weather. The fiber is exceptionally strong and long-lasting and well-made hemp garments can soften over time while maintaining structure.
• With the health and regenerative agriculture benefits, and production and processing improving we may see it become more accessible for those wanting to add it into their wardrobes.

Steps to Building a Natural Fiber Wardrobe

"My closet has always been things I can wear year round and oftentimes beyond a decade. I have a longterm relationship with my clothes, so I don’t shop trends, I’ve always honored my own personal style, and before I was more aware of where my clothes were made, I prioritized natural fibers because they were just higher quality and felt better on my skin. 

I don’t heavily declutter my wardrobe because I like being able to not wear something for a while and rediscover my love for it many years later. Rather than always seeking something new and letting go of pieces I’ll end up missing or rebuying down the road, I buy pieces I’ll want to hold onto - they don’t have to last forever but they can last much longer when we buy quality fibers and care for them properly to extend their life. Plus there’s something lovely about a domesticated wardrobe that’s well-worn and loved - it just feels more like you the more it’s worn."  - Jennifer, founder of Adorned Organics

We want to encourage you to create a wardrobe that focuses less on trends and more on quality, construction, function and building what truly serves you in daily life as you care for your home and family that will be unique to you. 

In a way, having a beautiful and functional wardrobe helps you think less about your closet and allows you to choose your outfits daily with ease, less thought and time, so you can focus on everything else that matters to you.

1. Take inventory of your current wardrobe

2. Start experimenting with different natural fibers 

Based on your lifestyle, needs and preferences some natural fibers may make more sense for you than others. As you experiment with different textures and styles for different parts of your life, you'll soon see what you'll gravitate to most and what suits your own life best.

3. Material integrity: How was it processed?

Fiber quality, dye processes, finishes, and certifications can influence both the feel of a garment and the substances used throughout production.

4. Construction: How was it made?

Seams, stitching, fabric weight, recovery, and pattern construction contribute to how a garment moves, wears, and lasts over time.

5. Longevity: Will this remain in your wardrobe?